ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on Women, Peace and Security

The RPA WPS is the product of a consultative process and reflects the efforts and inputs of a wide array of institutions and stakeholders engaged in women’s rights, gender equality and peace and security work across the region. An inclusive process is an important part of WPS implementation. ASEAN fully supports the view that sustainable peace can only be achieved through inclusion. As expressed by Mr. E. Phanthavong, Deputy Secretary-General for the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, “The core tenets of the Women, Peace and Security agenda are even more relevant now than before… The COVID-19 pandemic has reaffirmed a lesson known from other crisis situations—to seek and achieve sustainable solutions to intractable social issues, it is critical to apply a gender lens to understand the impact and create inclusive responses for recovery and resilience of communities and nations.”